Brisbane woman Stephanie Simmons who was held hostage along with her colleagues in 2016 is now using the experience to empower other women. Ms Simmons says she felt helpless and terrified during the siege which led her to take up martial arts.

Petroleum firm Ampol says it retains the right to pursue the conversion of its Lytton oil refinery near Brisbane into an import terminal despite accepting a $108 million a year federal government subsidy to remain open as a refinery. Ampol says it wishes to keep its options open in case of failure to legislate the subsidy or continued poor returns after the Lytton refinery posted a $145 million loss for 2020. 

Former Australian champion swimmer Brenton Rickard has been reunited with 60 of his medals that were stolen from his Gold Coast home last year. Antique dealer from Dalby, Christie Warby messaged Mr Rickard after she purchased some of his medals during an online auction earlier this month. Ms Warby, also a former swimmer, was planning to make a good profit from the medals before learning they were stole

Almost $200 million will be spent in the redevelopment on the GM Holden site at Fishermans Bend in Port Melbourne with funding included in the state budget. From 2024, the 32 hectare site will be home for the University of Melbourne’s school of engineering just four kilometres from Melbourne CBD. The first stage of preparing the site for development will cost one hundred and $80 million as Business Pre

Former South African President Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial has been delayed again after his new defence team raised concerns about the lead prosecutor and said it may seek his recusal from the case. Mr Zuma stands accused of taking an annual bribe of five hundred thousand rand from French arms manufacturer Thales to shield them from an investigation into a nineteen ninety nine arms deal. Jacob Zuma i

Chile’s ruling centre-right Chile Vamos party has failed to win the one-third of seats it required to control the country’s constitutional drafting body in elections held over the weekend. The nationwide elections overwhelmingly favoured independents in the one hundred and fifty-five member body preparing to write a new constitution to replace the one written during the rule of former dictator Augusto Pinochet. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected a proposal from Queensland company Wagners to build a 1000 room quarantine facility at its Wellcamp airport near Toowoomba. Mr Morrison said the plan was impractical and lacked detail compared to similar projects put forward by the Victorian and Northern Territory governments. The Wellcamp facility was due to be part of Premier

Queensland researchers and a US team have developed a world-first COVID-19 antiviral therapy that targets the virus in the body. The antiviral therapy has killed off the COVID-19 viral load in mice infected by the virus 99.9% as lead researcher Professor Nigel McMillian from Griffith University says it’s a “seek and destroy mission” The collaborative research between the Menzies Health Institute Queens

The Queensland Government is launching a $2 million agritourism campaign in an effort to capitalise on the domestic tourism boom.  With international travel still out of the question for Australians, the ‘Taste Farm Life’ campaign will encourage people looking for a getaway to take part in a range of farm and food-related experiences in Queensland’s regions. Agriculture and Rural Communities Minister M